Article Content Type: Article
Results
What Matters? Teaching Conventions Series
What matters, then? Poetry matters, and the line that will not break under the weight of history. What matters then? A single gardenia broken from the dark-leafed bush. What matters...
Good News: Your Teacher is Calling
Talking with parents about their children’s first weeks of school quickly divides the group into “very happy” and “not happy at all” camps. It’s usually not disappointment with curriculum or...
Book Memories
When I taught middle school language arts, my favorite lessons of the year were the ones in which the students shared book memories. I have so many strong memories related...
Opening Doors to Parents in Middle School
The email starts, “What a fun day we have had!” I smile, take another bite of my sandwich, and reach across my lunch to start scrolling. “After a snack...
Concise, Conversational, and Consistent: Explaining the Work of Literacy Coaches
I get asked questions about my job in a variety of ways: “So you’re a teacher?” “I heard you’re a coach. What sport?” And my recent favorite: “Then you get...
Finding a Fit (The Power of Conventions Series)
While students whizzed through fill-in-the-blanks worksheets and circled the correct number of nouns in a sentence, when the opportunity came for students to apply what they learned to their drafts...
From Reading to Writing Informational Texts
I first met Sal and Anthony in Mrs. Bean’s second-grade classroom on a Monday afternoon. It was about 45 minutes before school let out, and the class was finishing up...
Trust
As soon as you trust yourself you will know how to live. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe When the basket of meditation stones was passed to me at the writing retreat,...
Unpacking the Kindergarten Common Core Standards
It had been a long year. Our district was implementing the Common Core and the new content standards for Ohio. We had revised our progress report card to reflect these...
Supporting Young Writers with Opinion Texts
I believe that effective teaching is about hearing all the voices -- making sure that every student is valued, heard and respected and knows that his or her voice can...
Chronology in Nonfiction (Common Core Booklist)
As I try to choose books that will help my students meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards, I find myself needing to look across grade level expectations...
Shifting from Spelling to Word Study in 5th Grade
“Look at my word jar, Mrs. Caplin. I made it over the weekend with my friend.” I knew then the shift from spelling to word study had occurred in my...
The Joys and Challenges of Co-Teaching
As I began working on my schedule for this year, it seemed like I was missing something. Looking it over and thinking about each class, specials, and planning time, I...
Do They Care? Empathy Book Clubs
Students are sitting in circles, heads close together, excitedly talking about books, and using the words “I felt empathy when . . .” over and over again. The murmurs of...
The Blank Page and Better Teaching
I would be a better teacher if. . . Have you ever thought these words? I would be a better teacher if . . . I’m sure everyone has...
Revising My Recording Form for Writing Conferences
Writing conferences—the one-on-one conversations we have with students while their classmates are busy writing—are the most important teaching opportunities we have in the writing workshop. —Carl Anderson in Assessing Writers...
Appealing Book Displays for Boys
As I write this, it’s about three weeks before school starts. I walk into my freshly painted room. The smell is a little overwhelming and the walls look bright. My...
On Perfection and Goals
When I began teaching, Mark McGwire was breaking the home-run record in major-league baseball. We sat in the stands and cheered home runs 67 and 68, awed by the consistency...
Without Answers
Dedicated to all brave young English language learners everywhere If you would ask me the meaning of nostalgia I’d tell you it’s a tranquil afternoon A moment filled with dialogues...
Dear Eve Bunting
“I’m going to send this to Eve Bunting. Will you get me the address?” Allie shoved a book in my hands, along with a letter. Dear Eve Bunting, it began....
The Power of Music
When literacy coach Heather Rader walked into Sean Moore’s second-grade classroom the kids were already sitting at the carpet. On the chart paper were the phrases “cooler than the flip...
